Tyrrell’s Furrows Beef Brisket & Black Peppercorn

 I am gobsmacked. This Beef Brisket & Black Perppercorn crisp really tastes as if it was made with actual meat. Or meat extract. Or something. But no. It is actually suitable for vegetarians.

Now, the Family Vegetarian Taste Tester tells me that no amount of  “oh yes all the ingredients are suitable for veggies” style info on the back of crisp packets makes any difference. If the packet is labelled Beef Brisket she’s just not going to try it. I wonder how many vegetarians this applies to.

And I do wonder if crisp manufacturers are trying to woo vegetarians with totally veggie flavours that sound meaty, or are creating meaty flavours (that are in fact veggie) because that’s what they think people want.

Hard to say. But if you ask my stepdaughter they’re going in the wrong direction.

And honestly, I am not mad about these crisps. They smell, not exactly meaty, but not veggie. A little bit marmite. They look tasty. Nice crinkle cut. Yum.

Except…there’s a sort of greasy aftertaste that I’m not a big fan of. I noticed that Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester was able to eat a lot more than me. 

Tyrrell’s Roasted Chicken & Sage

 

New! A gold coin thingy with a crown tells us that this is a New! crisp flavour. With, I read on the back of the packet, oodles of flavour to tickle your tastebuds.

Well. Normally I love a chicken or roast chicken crisp. They taste chickeny and I like that. However, I see that yeast extract (Marmite to me) is one of the ingredients for this crisp. And despite the cooked chicken powder - second crisp in a row to contain actual meat: so not suitable for vegetarians - I think this crisp mostly tastes of Marmite. What a disappointment.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Marmite. On toast it’s fabulous. And my mother brainwashed me to believe that a mug of hot Marmite would cure any ill from period pain to a broken leg, and trust me, it really works. Only do go to A&E if you think your leg might be broken. Maybe have a mug of Marmite while you wait for the ambulance.

However again, I was hoping this new New! crisp would taste of chicken and some sage. And it doesn’t. It smells of Marmite too. 

But the Chef has absentmindedly noshed down almost the entire packet so one can only assume that he has been enjoying the taste. And there is nothing the matter with the crunch.

Tyrrell’s Hand Cooked Crisps Sea Salt & Vinegar Furrows

Senior taste tester walked all the way down the building to tell me he liked these salt & vinegar crisps. He liked the soft taste. You know how salt & vinegar crisps can have an amazingly harsh flavour? Not this crinkle cut version which has a sweet gentle taste.

This is a very nice take on salt & vinegar. And I like the crinkle cut. I didn’t used to like crinkle cut. So many had far too much flavour or, worse, were too thick cut for my taste. But this is pretty good crisp. The aroma is nice too. The reluctant taste testers tell me so.

Because it wasn’t only Senior taste tester who liked this. This was a large 150g packet, and very nearly all got snacked up. Impressive.

Tyrrell’s have very good packaging design. The packets always look great. But I have a bit of a problem with Tyrrell’s crisps. The flavour is usually fine, but it turns out I often don’t like the crisps. I don’t know why but I don’t. Well they’re a bit too potatoey. You eat a crisp and end up with a bit of potato in your mouth. So there we are.

And this packet tells me I can recycle it. Great! Or does it? I just looked up the “green dot” yin yang style arrow symbol, and it doesn’t mean any such thing. What it means is that the manufacturer has made a financial contribution towards the recovery and recycling of packaging in Europe.

I bet hardly any people know what this symbol means. I wish it was a different symbol that meant the packet could actually be recycled but I suspect that won’t happen for a long time. This is not a problem I have with Tyrrell’s. But a problem the country, and indeed the world, has with all (most at any rate) crisp manufactures. You can’t recycle your crispy snack packet and a lot of the rubbish on the side of the road will include crisp packets. It’s time the crisp manufacturers thought about this.

It’s important.

Tyrrell's Hand Cooked English Crisps Lobster Cocktail

Isn't this the most fabulous image of a lobster? I don't eat sea food but I do find images of lobsters and crabs and octopuses can be amazingly beautiful.

Or exciting. So yes, I admit it, I bought this packet of Lobster Cocktail flavoured crisps because I liked the packaging design.

I could not bring myself to try these crisps but the rest of the reluctant taste testers were less cautious and noshed into the packet enthusiastically. Tall Elegant taste tester says she loves anything that tastes of lobster and Noble Friend was a big fan too. 

Tall taste tester said of course there isn't any lobster but in fact there is. The flavour is concocted from all sorts of things like tomato and lemon juice powder but also cooked dried prawns, cooked dried oyster (which contains tapioca - what??) and lobster extract.

The whole packet of rich orangey golden crisps was eaten in no time. Which seems a fairly enthusiastic response.

The potato variety used here is called Courage. Isn't that a great name?

Check out this amazing lobster tapestry kit by Kaffe Fassett. I already made the crab design years ago - it sits in the comfy chair we have in our kitchen -  and have always wanted the lobster too. Goodness knows when I will get around to actually making this tapestry but at least I have the kit now. That's a start.